Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1887-05-20

for the ungodly. AS the great
Apostle to the Gentiles truly says,
whilst we were yet sinners
Christ died for us" "Well them"
says the objector, "does not the
Bible teach the doctrine that You
have just denominated hideous 2"
Far from it. The two cases are
as widely separated as the poles.
In the case of the judge he COM
PEELED the innocent to suffer for
the gailty. Every feeling of our
natures revolts against such COM
pulsion. But, if the Judge in
the compassion of his heart, and in
his fatherly feeling toward his
son, should step down from the
bench, and embrace his convicted
son, and willingly go to prison
and serve out the time for his son,
how the world would applaud such
action, and every body would ex-
claim: Behold how the father
loved hiln!" Have you learned
to think thus Of God? If not, you
have failed to raise to the Bible
conception of his wondrous love.
That system of theology that re-
presents God as angry with sin
ners, as compelling Jesus to die
to reconcile God to the world, had
not its origin in the Bible, but in
heathen mythology and in the
sacrifices of the heather to propi-
tiate their angry deities. 1t is
what DR.. Thomas of Chicago was
pleased to denominate "the butch
er theory of the atonement," and it
drove him out of the fellowship of
the denomination" with which he
had SO long affiliated. What won-
der that there are infdels in the
world when such representations
Of God have been taught from the
pulpits Of this land?
The sacrifice of Jesus for the
sins of the world was not COM
pulsory. 1t was a willing offering.
"Lo, l come to do thy will, o God, I"
is expressive of the whole spirit
of the scheme of redemption. And,
furthermore, we must look upon
Christ, not as diss ociated from Goa,
but as God, God manifest in the
the fesh.' "God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto him
self" In other words, with our
illustration before US, God, as the
great Judge of the universe, step
ped down from his Judicial posi-
ton for little time, clothed him
self in our nature, threw his loving
arms of mercy around his re-
bellious children, and in our hu-
man nature as the perfect man, he
tasted death for every man, and by
his stripes we are healed. o
wondrous love! Ought not the
world applaud this action, and to
yield to our Heavenly Father that
love and obedience SO Justly his
due? So the death of the inno-
sent Jesus for the guilty inhabi-
tants of this world, forms no
ground whatever for the doctrine
sometimes preached that God
causes the death of the child in
order to chastise the parents for
their sins.
One other reason for rejecting
this theory: One would suppose
very naturally suppose-that if
this hypothesis were true the hand
of death would be laid upon the
children of the wickedest families,
instead of the children in Chris
tian homes. The children of the
drunken, and the lecherous, and
the profane, are often spared in
life and health, while those of the
most devout are often taken. If
God were to deal thus he would
not be impartial.
Why charge God with the death
of our children at all? Right here
great injustice is often done to his
holy name. Many things are
charged up on God for which he
is not at all responsible. I cannot
believe that it is even Gods will
that little children should die!
This may appear strange to some
persons; but nevertheless l esteem
it as truth. God has fixed the
bounds for our life. Says the
Psalmist, "The days of our years
are three score years and ten"
God wills that we should live that
long; but by indiscretion on our
part in violating the laws govern
ing our being, by parental ignor-
ance as to the needs of the child. |
by the failure upon the part of
physicians to fully comprehend
our diseases and the means to
enable us to throw off these
dlseases-by these, or a myriad
Of other accidents, we may die
before our time, that is before the
Bible limitation to our time, and
thus Gods will may be thwarted.
What! thwart the will of God?
Can Gods will be thwarted?
Most assuredly. Jesus willed
that the inhabitants of Jerusalem
should all be saved, and as he
stood In the presence of that